Roots in Early America
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan sent a letter to shareholders with the annual report, outlining the bank's history and its role in America's growth as the nation nears its 250th anniversary. The bank's oldest legacy institution, The Massachusetts Bank, was formed in 1784, one year after the Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris. Depositors helped grow the firm by lending to new and expanding businesses in the early U.S. economy. Bank of America also traces roots to New England franchises and a North Carolina company formed over 150 years ago to finance regional industries during the shift from agrarian to industrial society.
From our country’s earliest days, we supported those communities. We have supported the development of American capitalism. We did what a bank does – help its customers and clients grow.
Expansion Across the Nation
Funds from afar were insufficient, so local banks formed to build factories along the Eastern Seaboard. Banks in the nation's capital grew with federal expansion, Texas firms funded resource booms, and those in the Great Plains spurred Midwest and West growth. A Pacific Northwest bank opened as well. Around 1930, A.P. Giannini's Bank of Italy acquired The Bank of America, Los Angeles, and renamed it Bank of America after consolidation.
Key Funding Contributions
- Erie Canal
- Golden Gate Bridge
- War of 1812 government needs
- World War I
- World War II
- Numerous national priorities
Global Reach and Capitalism's Role
Companies now part of Bank of America provided funding across private citizens, governments, and businesses to help capitalism flourish and foster its link to democracy. Over 250 years, capitalism's opportunities through wages, investments, bonds, and loans built the country. The bank grew worldwide by aiding U.S. firms' ambitions and government requests for market access or post-conflict rebuilding. Examples include Argentina in 1917 for wool trade, Great Britain in 1931 as a creditor nation, Japan post-WWII for shipping loans, France in 1953 for European reconstruction, and UAE in 1972 for resource development.
Whether it was private citizens, governments or companies of every size, in communities across our growing country, Bank of America was there to help capitalism flourish. We were there to help foster the interdependent relationship between capitalism and democracy.
